As you probably already know, January is the busiest month of the year at Red Wing Software. It is also a busy time for many of our customers with year-end reporting, installing new tax updates, and getting W-2s out to employees. It was especially challenging this year with the late decisions by Congress to change federal tax tables after the first of the year.

We try very hard to make sure we provide the best customer service we can by preparing for the season. I thought I would share a few things that happen before and during this busy time:

• It is a written company policy that no one takes extended vacations in January. We want to make sure that we are fully staffed to handle the call load.
• Each year, we hold several planning meetings to make sure everyone has a chance to provide input on how we help each other be as efficient as possible.
• Our Red Wing Software University created several videos to include in our help files, and on-line, showing some common processes that need to be accomplished at year-end.
• During the first two weeks of the year, we have a local restaurant bring lunches in for everyone in our Red Wing location. This keeps us fully staffed throughout the lunch hour. Plus, it keeps people from having to go outside to get lunch at the coldest time of year.
• Everyone in positions that don’t normally deal directly with customers, put on multiple hats, and pitch in to help in any way they can. Marketing people get up-to-speed on handling the front desk phones, developers work on problem data for customers, sales people and the design team handle professional services requests, and the list goes on.

I don’t normally like to brag about our company. Okay, that’s a lie. I love to brag about how hard our employees work to take care of our customers. Each year we look for, and find, new ways to improve our services during this busy time. In the rare event that we did not handle your request as quickly as you (or us) would have liked, we sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding.

- Ken Hilton, President

By Stephanie Elsen

Today is National Clean Out Your Computer Day! Originally sponsored by the Institute for Business Technology in 2000, this day provides you an opportunity to officially go in and clean out that stuff you’ve been meaning to do for quite some time. Cleaning out your computer can make a significant difference in your computer’s speed! Take those huge files that are taking up space and save them to a separate hard drive. Uninstall programs you no longer want or need. Got lots of emails that linger on inside your ‘deleted’ box? Get rid of them. And while you’re at it, why not dust the whole system, including the bottom side of your oft-used but never-cleaned mouse. You might just be surprised how refreshed you feel with a cleaner and faster computer!

By Stephanie Elsen

If you are a Red Wing Software customer, chances are you know the benefits of a good audit trail. That’s because this feature has always been a top priority for our payroll and accounting software over the years.

A good audit trail can help prevent and detect fraud. Being able to see every action within your system by user can help you monitor their activity. If users know their activity is monitored, they are much less likely to commit fraudulent activity.

A good audit trail enables you to provide necessary documentation for third party organizations (such as banks and investors) that require it.

A good audit trail helps reconstruct events once an issue is detected.

Having a good audit trail in your accounting software provides peace of mind, knowing that events are being recorded by user and that information can be accessed anytime to look back at the history to solve problems.

By Stephanie Elsen

Are you frustrated because your accounting data entry takes so long and seems so inefficient? Do you feel you should be able to cut down on data entry time and human errors? Here are some ways accounting software can help you do just that. Check to see if your accounting software offers these time-saving functions.

Date Entry Shortcut

When entering dates into your accounting system, you should have the ability to simply type the day and it auto-fills the month and year, or enter just the month and day, and it will complete the year. It should also have an option to not enter separators (hyphens, slashes, etc.) between the month, day and year. Many systems will have an auto-fill function that intuitively knows what you are trying to enter, and provides options for you to choose and shorten your typing time.

Lookups

The majority of fields in your system should have lookup functions so you can find the information you need for the field if it doesn’t have a default value. Many systems will also allow you to decide which fields it should look for a match in when something is entered in a field. For example, if you are in a field where it’s expecting a customer code, do you have to enter the actual code, or can you enter a customer name, phone number, etc. and it will still find a match. Having this intuitive lookup capability can help you find things more quickly and reduce frustration.

Function Keys

As you might be aware, function keys (F1, F2, etc.) are available to shorten functions you perform on your computer most often. Using them can really shave off data entry time from your day! Learn how the function keys work within your accounting software and you can save several clicks per transaction, adding up to a good amount of time saved per day!

Set as Default

If you find yourself selecting the same choice in a field every time, you would likely benefit from changing the default option to the choice you select most often. Many accounting software systems will allow you to change the default to the selection you use most often, saving on data entry time, and ensuring accuracy.

Custom Columns

Some accounting programs allow you to add or remove columns of information within modules such as accounts payable and accounts receivable. This is extremely useful, since most programs must have a wide variety of fields/columns of information to meet many kinds of businesses. Remove the columns of information you don’t need to see, and add those you do need, which can really help streamline your job.

Set Tab Stops

Fields of information within your accounting software may not always be ones you choose or need to use. That’s why many applications will allow you to skip past fields you never use or fields that auto-fill with the correct information. That way when you are hitting the ‘tab’ key to get to the next field, the ones you don’t use will be skipped, and you will instead be directed to the next field you actually want to go to.

Recurring Transactions

Monthly utility bills, insurance payments, and rent payments are all examples of payments you can set up as recurring transactions. Setting them up as recurring transactions eliminates the job of entering the same details each time you need to process the transaction. Furthermore, if you bill your customers on an ongoing basis you can also set those up as recurring accounts receivable invoices. Setting up accounts payable and accounts receivable transactions as recurring transactions can not only save on work, but can also help you become more organized.

While every accounting software system is different, check out your system to see if the above time-saving functions are available. Every little savings of time can really add up!

By Stephanie Elsen

Can a whole blog post be written about pay stubs? Well, if you manage payroll, you know pay stubs are important! A pay stub is the piece of paper an employee receives that contains information about their pay. If they receive a printed pay check, it’s typically attached to the check. If their pay is direct deposited or distributed on a pay card, the paper is simply handed out to those employees. Some employers even go a step further and offer electronic pay stubs, which eliminates the need for paper and allows employees to access their pay information securely online. No matter the form they take, the pay stub is necessary so employees can access information and details about their pay, employment, and benefits. Here are some things you should know about printed pay stubs.

Here are examples of some of the standard pay stub types available with a payroll system. What you put on the pay stubs for your employees largely depends on your company, the benefits you provide, and which information you and your employees need to see (or not to see).

• Standard Pay Stub
• Standard with Leave & Deductions Pay Stub
• Standard with Benefits Pay Stub
• Piece Rate Pay Stub
• Standard with Piece Rate Pay Stub
• Standard without YTD Hours Pay Stub
• Standard without Leave Pay Stub

While many payroll software systems offer a standard set of payroll stub variations, some systems also allow you to design your own pay stubs, so they are exactly as your company and its employees with to see them. Red Wing Software’s CenterPoint Payroll does allow for designing of custom pay stubs with its Check Stub Designer, which is an optional add-on product.

Placement of the pay stub can vary greatly, and that’s why many payroll systems offer the ability to choose where the check and the pay stub are on the check paper stock. The page is typically divided into three sections, with one section being for the check itself, one section for the employee stub and the other section for the stub which the employer keeps.

Some payroll systems also offer users the option of providing electronic pay stubs. Employees are then able to access their current and prior pay data online, from any computer via the internet. This eliminates the need for paper pay stubs, and is also convenient way to provide employees in multiple states or locations with their pay information.

It is important to choose a payroll system that can create pay stubs for your company and its employees in a way that makes the most sense for you.

Pay Stub Sample – CenterPoint Payroll Software